Spyro the Dragon: Finding Courage of a Hero
by Super Metal Sonic
Summary: We all know what Spyro is like, cocky, wisecracking and always rushing head long into action, but what if he wasn't like that? what if instead, he was nervous, lacking confidence scaredy cat afraid of everything. So begins the Spyro's first adventure, will this adventure take this scared dragon and make him the hero we all know and love. one way to find out.
1. Ch1: The not so brave dragon

It was a beautiful day in the Dragon Realms and it was no different in the Artisans home world, making it a perfect start to a fun filled day for one young purple dragon.

Spyro ran across the grassy plains, racing for fun when he noticed something that made him stop. There was something moving about in the bushes, nearby. Curiosity overtaking him, Spyro moved in closer to see what was making the bush shake. Slowly edging closer, the purple dragon gulped nervously as the shaking of the bush intensified and then out bursts...

"Baaaa!"

"Aaaaahhhh!" Spyro screamed in terror and ran away, leaving the bush and the sheep behind. As he fled in fear, Spyro glanced back for a moment when he then ran into something, stopping him in his track, looking up, he soon found he had run into the Artisan leader Nestor.

"Calm down, Spyro," the dragon leader said kindly to the startled dragon, "it was nothing more than just a sheep, nothing to be afraid of."

Looking back behind him, Spyro watched as the sheep that had frightened him bound away, leaving the purple dragon feeling foolish as he turned back to face Nestor.

"S-sorry Nestor, it's j-just that… I was…"

Nestor gave a quiet sigh as Spyro timidly fumbled to explain,

"It's alright Spyro, I understand." the dragon elder said, reassuringly to him,

Nestor gave another small sigh; he was quite concerned about Spyro.

He remembered when the little dragon had first hatched, Spyro had been the most curious and adventurous hatchling he had seen, but then a few months later, Nestor had decided to take some of the baby dragons to the Magic Crafters world to show them some of the wondrous things that dragons of that world made. The baby dragons had looked at the new world around them with awe and fascination, which may have been why he had thought it was okay to talk with the Magic Crafter Elder, however he had failed to notice that Spyro had wondered off.

By the time Nestor had noticed Spyro was missing, the little baby dragon had ended up in the Alpine Ridge. Searching through the land, Nestor almost feared the worst when he had heard the baby dragon's scream of terror from a nearby cave. Entering the cave, he found Spyro, surrounded by a group of blue robed figures.

Thieves were not uncommon in the Dragon Realms, a number of them were constantly sneaking in and trying to steal gems or even dragon eggs, but they are usually no more than an annoying nuisance, easily chased off, without a problem. However this particular group of thieves were different. Their robes were ragged and dirty as if they haven't been washed in days; they also appeared a lot more sinister and mean looking than the thieves that usual sneak into the Dragon worlds.

"Well, well, look what we have here boys. A baby dragon." The largest of the thieves said, his mouth twisted into a large grin.

"What should we do with him?" asked a thief wearing a particle ragged set of robes.

"I heard there's this sorceress that would pay big gems for some baby dragon wings… not attached to the dragon of course." One of the thieves said with a twisted grin, pulling out a knife and advanced on the purple dragon.

Spyro screamed in terror as he tried to back away from the thieves, but one of the thieves grabbed him by the tail and pulled him back towards the group.

"Hold him down. Keep him still so can cut the wings off!" The thief holding the knife ordered the others as he held the knife up ready to cut.

Reacting at once, Nestor lunged forward with a roar. At this the thieves froze and stared in alarmed as they finally noticed the full grown dragon which was now charging at them. Letting the small dragon they held captive, the thieves tried to run but Nestor was on them before they could get far.

Horns smacking against the thieves, sending them flying back. The thieves got hurriedly to their feet and stared back at Nestor in fright,

"L-l-let's get out of here!" the thieves' leader stuttered, running as fast as he could, followed by the others. Once all the thieves had left. Nestor went to check on Spyro. The purple dragon was curled in a ball, shivering.

Spyro had not been hurt, but from that day on, he had been frightened and scared of nearly everything.

Nestor shook his head as his thoughts returned to the now and he looked into the timid purple dragon looking back up at him.

"Come with me Spyro" Nestor finally spoke, a kind smile on his lips, "there's something I think you will really like." He then turned and began to walk the way he had come, Spyro carefully following him. After a short walk the two soon arrived at a clearing near the Artisans waterfall. As they drew nearer, Spyro saw a number of dragons gathered together, working on setting something up.

"What are they doing Nestor?" Spyro asked, puzzled by what was going on.

"It's the Dragon News Network Spyro." Nestor answered, giving the small dragon a friendly smile, "They're going to be doing a special news segment here in the Artisain worlds, Astor had been asked to answer a number of questions as well as say a few worlds about the Dragon worlds."

"Hey Spyro!" a voice called out to the purple dragon. Looking round, Spyro saw Sparx the dragonfly, his best friend, flying over to them.

"Did you come to watch the broadcast too?" Sparx buzzed excitedly.

"Sure." Spyro replied and soon the two friends were off, running and chasing after each other. Nestor chuckled watching the two. Spending time with Sparx was one of the few things in which Spyro was not scared or nervous about and it did Nestor's heart good, watching the two friends play. Turning his head back over towards the working dragons and watched as they started filming.

"And we're live in three..two… one." Bob, the dragon in charge of the interview, said and with a snap of the marker board, the filming began, "ok we're rolling." And Astor gave a small start.

"Oh, it's been peaceful here in the five worlds… or was it six worlds…" Astor babbled the last bit, the elderly dragon's memory being a bit fuzzy, "for dragon age. We now have twelve thousand treasure… or is it fourteen thousand?"

"What about Guh-nasty Guh-norc?" the Bob asked, saying the name so that the gs were sounded, "now, I understand he has a magic spell that can turn gems into warriors for his cause."

Astor paused at the mention of the name, not sure what to say about the creature that the name belongs to.

Gnasty Gnorc, the big green creature with the bad attitude of an orc and the short temper of a gnome to match. Gnasty had caused problems for the dragon worlds from his dangerous attempts at magic and his interest in staring at the dragons' treasure of gems before he was exiled to the most remote world in the dragon worlds.

Before Astor could reply, Lindar, a tall, broad blue dragon stepped between the two,

"I'll answer that question" he spoke, "Gnasty Gnore is a simple creature. He's been locked away in a remote world and is no threat… and besides, he is ugly."

* * *

Meanwhile. far from the five dragon ruled worlds, there was a sixth world.

Gloomy, desolate, the sixth dragon world, once it was known as the Dragon Junk Yard, but that was when it was the dragons' world, now it is Gnasty's world and had since been changed to reflect its new lord and master. It was here, in the heart of the Gnorc Gnexus, that Gnasty Gnorc watched the Dragon worlds through the use of a mixture of what could be salvaged from what the dragons left behind when they used the world as a dumping ground for their trash and magic. And unfortunately for the dragons, it was at this moment Gnasty was watching the Dragon News Network's broadcast special.

The green skinned brute watched with a bored sneer on his face, until they began to talk about him.

"Simple?!" Gnasty Gnorc spoke out loud, his eyes narrowed in anger as he continued to echo the Dragon's words about him, "No threat? UGLY!? That does it!" he yelled, stamping his foot in anger and raising his club up above his head. This was the last straw. Gnasty had been content to leave the dragons alone for the time being, but after those remarks, he wasn't going to let it slide. He had planned to deal with dragons sooner or later, which was why, in the time he took dabbled with magic he found not only the spell to turn gems into warriors for his growing army, but he had also found a spell that can trap all the dragons in crystals and he was going to use it now.

* * *

Across the Dragon worlds, the dragons were continuing with their daily lives, unaware of the terrible fate about to befall them.

In the Artisan Home world, Spyro sat on a nearby grassy patch, Sparx buzzing alongside him while Nestor argued with Lindar about what he had said; something about not provoking people, but Spyro was more interested in watching the butterflies that fluttered around, being chased by Sparx when they drew near them. Spyro chuckled as he watched, butterflies were probably the only thing he was not afraid, if only thanks to Sparx. As he followed the buzzing dragonfly path through the sky, Spyro frowned.

He thought he had seen something in the sky.

Turning his head over towards Nestor and Lindar, the purple dragon wondered if he should say something to the two elders, but then shook his head, thinking that he had just imagined it and resumed looking at the butterflies. As he watched, he soon began to realize that the thing he saw earlier seemed to be getting closer.

"N-Nestor," Spyro called over to the green elder, getting his attention, "there's something up there in the sky." The little dragon pointed over to the approaching thing.

Nestor and Lindar both looked at the thing in the sky. Realizing what it was, Nestor's eyes widened in horrified realisation.

"Oh no…" the words escaped from his lips as the things in the sky, now recognisable as a series of blue beams of light heading towards them. Turning to Spyro and Sparx, he opened his mouth and yelled to the small dragon,

"Spyro! Sparx! Run!"

Not needing to be told twice, Spyro quickly scrambled to his feet and ran as fast as his legs could carry him, only slowing down to turn his head to look back at Nestor and Lindar as the two are struck by the beams and as the light faded, the two had been turned into crystalized statues.

"Nestor!" Spyro yelled in panic and terror, seeing what had happened to the kind, understanding dragon that had been like a mentor to him, but before he could say or do anything else, another series of bright lights rained down from the sky and on to the gems of the dragons' treasure. The gems hit by the second spell quickly began to transform, becoming Gnorcs. Seeing this suddenly appearing army of monstrous looking creatures, Spyro, his fear rising, looked in wide eyed horror before doing the only thing that come to his mind. He ran.

With all the dragons trapped, the Gnorcs continued their march on the Dragon worlds unhindered. Taking the gems to create more of them, the dragons' treasure soon quickly began to dwindled into nothing, what gems that had not been turned into warriors to serve Gnasty where locked up in chests and scattered all over the many worlds.

"HA! How easy those overgrown scale bags have been beaten by their betters." gloated Toasty as he strode through the Artisan Homeworld. He smirked triumphantly as he looked around at the frozen dragons in their crystal prisons; giddy with joy. He was so glad that Gnasty Gnorc had made him the minion in charge of the dragon realm he and the gnorcs he was in charge of conquered, but it was seeing the dragons trapped and defeated that was what he really wanted.

"Not so high and mighty now, are you?" Toasty mocked, the smile of the jack o lantern that was his head, going wider, "you dragons always thought you had this great and wonderful , well now look at you. Trapped in crystal forever and nothing will save you. No longer will you mess with me or any other…"

"Errm, Boss?" Toasty turned to see several of the Gnorcs under his command gathered in a cowering group in front of him.

"What are you lot doing here?" he snapped angrily, "You're supposed to be out there doing the jobs I gave you!"

"B-b-but boss, we're sure we saw s-something moving around out there." One of the smaller gnorcs blethered. Toasty sighed in frustration, as much as he enjoyed being in charge of one of the dragon worlds, it annoyed him that half of the gnorc forces under his control turned out to be complete cowards.

"You fools jump at the sight of your own shadows, the only thing out there are sheep and statues." The scarecrow like villain said, "Now get back out there and gather the rest of the gems for Gnasty Gnorc or I'll send you to him as gems!" the gnocs fled, fearing for their lives if they incur Toasty's wrath, as the green creatures disappeared from sight, Toasty turned to face the large stone dragon head that held the portal to the area that he had picked as his stronghold.

"Still…" he said to himself, "even if there is anyone other than the Gnorcs out there, once I close this portal, they won't be able to get anyway near it unless they can reach on of the exit portals in the one of the other areas here, all thanks to a handy little spell." And with a dark chuckle, Toasty walked through the portal before the stone dragon head closed its mouth, sealing itself as the spell took effect.

* * *

The gnorcs continued to swarm over the Dragon Realms, stealing gems from the dragons' treasure and storing them in chests ready to be sent to their master. All seemed to be lost for the Dragon worlds or so it seemed. Maybe Gnasty Gnorc overestimated the reach of the spell or maybe it was luck, or perhaps it was just fate, but in the Artisan homeworld, an unlikely savoir remained untouched by the spell.

From his hiding place, Spyro slowly crept out into the open and into adventure.


	2. Ch2: The adventure begins

"I-is it safe?" Spyro asked Sparx as he crawled out of his hiding place and looked round.

Sparx buzzed about for a bit before giving a reply, "Yep, no sign of those…things."

"W-what were those things? T-they came out of nowhere…" Spyro gave a small shiver as he thought about the green skinned creatures that had just appeared. He was so terrified by them Spyro didn't give a second thought about running and finding a place to hid from the monsters. Now that it seemed safe, the purple dragon decided to go look for the dragons, hoping that all that he had simply fell asleep and all that had happen was just a bad dream. After a few moments of walking, Spyro and Sparx soon reached the spot where they had last seen Nestor, Spyro stopped in his tracks as he finds the crystal statue that was the dragon elder.

"Nestor!"

Spyro stared at the statue as if hoping for Nestor to respond, telling him that everything was ok, but the statue remained silent.

The small purple dragon broke down into a crumpled heap, sobbing in a mixture of despair and fear. Sparx hovered near Spyro, looking worried if what happened might come back and strike his friend.

"W-what are we going to do Sparx?" Spyro asked, "Nestor, Astor, Lindar, everyone we know is gone and we're all alone." He shifted his feet nervously as he slowly rose back up to his feet. Before the dragonfly could say anything, the sound of heavy footfall reached the two friends.

"Who's there?" A deep voice cut through the air, making Spyro jump.

The creature standing there was taller than him and twice as wide, wearing nothing but shoes and a cap on its head. Its green skin was rough and scaly looking; its large bulbous eyes looked right at the purple dragon. The two of them stared at each other for a moment and then screamed,

"Aaaaaghhhh!"

"Aaaaagghhhh!"

The green creature turned and ran while Spyro, too scared to notice this, stumbled back. As he backed up, he knocked into the dragon statue. As soon as his scales touched it, Spyro suddenly felt the statue began to tremble.

"Yikes!" the purple dragon yelped and backed away from the statue, "W-w-what's going on?"

The trembling quickly intensified, the statue visually shaking with chucks of the crystal flying off until it exploded into piece and standing there was Nestor.

"Nestor! You're okay." Spyro said, his voice filled with amazement and relief.

Nestor weakly got to his feet as he looked down, examining himself before he focused on Spyro.

"Spyro…" the elder dragon at last spoke, "it's good to see that you are safe."

"How did you get free?" Sparx asked, buzzing up to eye level with Nestor, "You were a statue and then suddenly it started shaking and then you broke out of it."

"The crystal statue that was my prison is the result of a terrible spell. It was designed to trap every dragon in the Dragon worlds, sealing them in crystal forever, however the spell missed you. As such the magic dispelled the moment you touched the statue, breaking the spell and freeing me."

"Then… we can free the others!" Spyro said as the realization of what Nestor said came to him, "we can free all the others."

"It's not that simple Spyro." Nestor said, heavy heartedly, "Part of the reason I was freed was because you had not been trapped. Dragons are magical beings Spyro, not in the same way as fairies or wizards, we can't actively control it but it is still in us. The spell worked by using that magic to trap and draining us. The spell reacted to the magic inside you, restoring some of the magic stolen from me thus breaking the crystal and freeing me. However because of that, that means only you can free the others. You are the only dragon not drained of magic by the spell." At these words Spyro looked terrified, but before he could say anything, the sound of stomping feet once more interrupted them.

Looking round, the two dragons and dragonflies soon saw the creature from before, followed by two more of it.

"Alright." The larger of the beasts grumbled, "So where is this…thing… you…" the creatures faltered as they soon spotted them.

"Spyro…" Nestor quietly whispered to the young dragon as he slowly shifted into a combat stance, "Get behind me where it's safe."

For a tense moment it seemed to Spyro that a fight was going to happen when, just as quick, one of the green beasts turned and ran, soon followed by the others.

"Ha yeah, you did it Nestor!" Sparx gave an excited buzz, "You scared them off."

"No…" Nestor said as he slumped to his knees, almost, it seemed to Spyro, as if it was taking all he could to not collapse to the ground, "they ran not because I scared them. They ran because they're not fighters."

"What were they?" Spyro asked.

"Gnorcs." Nestor responded,

"Gnorcs? A-a-as in the same creature as Gnasty Gnorc?" Spyro asked, his eyes full of fear.

"Yes. Created from a spell used by Gnasty to turn gems from our treasure into an army." The elder dragon said as he slowly rose to his feet again. "Follow me; there is a place where we can talk in safety."

Following Nestor, the three soon found a safe place where Nestor could rest and recover while he talked with Spyro.

"What do we do Nestor?" Spyro asked, looking to the older dragon for guidance.

Nestor sat in silence for a few minutes, looking as if he was making a though decision as he looked at Spyro from time. Finally he answered.

"There's a balloonist called Marco that lives nearby the docks. He can help you get to the other Dragon worlds. Find him and convince him to help you." At this, Spyro's eyes went wide in shock.

"Go out there? All by myself? But why, can't I just stay here?"

"Spyro. I'm afraid it may be up to you to free the other dragons and stop Gnasty Gnorc."

At this, Spyro looked at Nestor as if he had s second head. Himself going against Gnasty Gnorc? He, who was scared of everything, risking his life against the terrifying monster all by himself,

"You can't be serious! " Spyro exclaimed, "I can't face Gnasty Gnorc! H-he's got an army of monsters and other scary things and I'm just me. Why think I can do anything?"

"Spyro, you may not understand it yet, but whether it was by coincidence or fate, the spell missed you. Destiny may have something important planned for you. It could very well be to save us all."

Spyro gulped, his stomach feeling as if it was full of butterflies.

"But what can I do?" he asked helplessly. Nestor sighed as he responded,

"Go find the balloonist Spyro. That is all I can tell you for now. Only you can answer that question."

Spyro opened his mouth to reply, then without a world quickly closed it. As much as he didn't want to, a part of him knew that Nestor was right. There must have been some reason he out of all the dragons was free after the spell hit and, as much as Spyro wanted to, he couldn't just stay here and not try to help.

"O-ok" he said at last, "I'll try…"

"I'll go too." Sparx pipped up, "You can count on me to help you get through this."

Spyro gave a relieved smile and thanks to his friend and the two headed off, to begin their mission.

* * *

"I have this world under my control. I don't need you lot checking on me, questioning my actions."

Toasty glared at the four burning projections which were used by the bosses of Gnasty's forces in the other Dragon worlds to communicate with one another.

"The master has trusted us with these worlds Toasty. Therefore we must do everything to ensure nothing goes wrong." Blowhard, the Wizard in charge of the Dreamwavers said,

"That is correct." Metalhead added, "Our success is vital to Gnasty Gnorc's rule and therefore any failure on your part could jeopardise us all."

Before Toasty could give a retort, a deep grunt cut him off. As one the other bosses turned to look at the largest of them, Doctor Shemp who, once he was certain that he had their attention, cleared his throat, ready to speak. However, just as he opened his mouth, he was cut off by several of Toasty's minions came barging in.

"Boss! Boss! We saw a dragon!"

"WHAT?!" Toasty yelled. "What do you mean you saw a dragon?"

"O-one of the dragons i-is free." One of the gnorcs stammered in fright as the scarecrow creature loomed over him. "W-we saw him and this small purple dragon and-"

"There's another one out there!" Toasty's yell silenced them.

"Not just one but two dragons free in your world? And you said you have everything under control." Jacques said in a mocking tone, "Still, what did we expect from a she-"

"RRRRAAAAGHHHHH!"

Toasty slammed his scythe down, shattering the stone that was the source of the flame projections and ending communications with the other bosses. Turning on the spot, the jack o lantern headed villain glared at his gnorc minions.

"You lot! If you don't want to be sent to Gnasty Gnorc as lumps of sliced meat, you quivering lumps of cowardice better get back out there and STOP THAT DRAGON!" he bellowed as the gnorcs scrambled to do as they were ordered. Now alone in the chambers, the tall villain took several breaths to calm down.

"I've put too much effort in this." he muttered to himself, "I finally got those dragons right where I want them and I won't let some dragon ruin this. Whoever he is. That dragon won't last long…"

* * *

At that same time, Spyro and Sparx were making their way, following the directions Nestor told them would take them to the balloonist. As they walked, Spyro looked round at the surroundings that not so long ago were friendly and full of friends now empty and eerie.

"Are we almost there?" the purple dragon asked Sparx, "the balloonist should be nearby according to Nestor."

"You're asking me?" the dragonfly buzzed, "I can't see anything that we haven't seen before."

Spyro gave a small gulp and looked around again. He recognised the area they were in. His eyes lingered from the nearby waterfall with several stepping stones to the hedge maze,

"Nestor said the Balloonist is near the docks." He said as he pointed a claw to a tunnel past the maze, "So we should probably go through there and see if we can spot him."

"Sure, I guess we got no better place to try." Sparx replied and followed Spyro as they approached the tunnel.

"Hey! There he is!"

Spyro leapt in the air is fright upon hearing the yell, his feet scrabbling as they remade contact with the ground and he started to run, entering the tunnel.

"After him!" the voice yelled and soon the sound of running feet began to follow him. Spyro continues to run, not daring to look back. Sparx flew, his wings beating faster the he ever had before in order to keep up with his friend. The two friends turned as soon as they reached the other end of the tunnel, taking the corner sharply. As Spyro ran he could hear his pursuers yell and clatter as they tried to change their direction

"Quick in here!"

A door was open up ahead of them. With a burst of extra speed, Spyro and Sparx dived through the doorway and the door closed behind them.

His chest rising and falling as he caught his breath, Spyro listened as the sound of running footsteps pasted the door and soon faded into the distance.

"They're gone, Sparx." He said, a sigh of relief escaping his lips. He then looked round to see who his savoir was.

Standing before him was a creature that Spyro didn't recognised. This was mostly due to it being covered from head to toe in heavy clothing. A thick scarf was wrapped round his face so that only his eyes could be seen of his face. On top of his head, he wore an aviator cap.

"You're the Balloonist, Marco." Sparx buzzed, the person nodded.

"You're the one that helped us right?" the purple dragon asked as he approached the balloonist, feeling a bit more relief.

"I couldn't just do nothing while those gnorcs chased you." The balloonist said, turning round, "Especially not when it kids such as you two."

"Hey! Who are you calling kids?" Sparx buzzed indigently, Spyro looked alarmed at the dragonfly's outburst and panicky tried to calm his friend down. The balloonist seemed not to have noticed.

"Come on you two, follow me" he said as he headed for a back door.

A few minutes of following Marco the balloonist lead them to another building. Judging by its smaller size and the hot air balloon stationed beside it, the two friends knew this must be Marco's home.

"Hey Spyro look! There's the balloon, just like we were needing." Sparx said, shooting up towards the hot air balloon and zipping around it.

"Sparx get down from there! Someone might see you!" Spyro called out to his friend, worried that the gnorcs might see him.

As they entered the home, Spyro saw Marco sitting at a table, drinking from a mug.

"Well thank you for your help." Spyro said, approaching Marco, "Especially since we were actually looking for you."

Marco stopped drinking from the mug and looked at Spyro with a suspicious look, causing the young dragon to gulp nervously.

"You came looking for me?"

"Y-yes. Y-you see, we need to free the other dragons and…"

"Free the dragons?" Marco cut him off, now looking as if the little dragon was imagining things, "Did you see what happened to them? There's no getting free from that. It can't be done."

"It can be done." Spyro answered back, "Nestor was freed and he told us to come and find you."

At this, the Balloonist looked up from his drink,

"Nestor is free?" he asked, looking at Spyro, who then responded with a slow nod, after a few more moments, the purple dragon spoke up,

"We need to go to the other dragon worlds." Spyro explained, "Nestor told us that you could help with your balloon."

For a while the room was silent as Marco stared at Spyro. The purple dragon shifted uncomfortably as he waited for something.

"I can't help you." Marco answered, shaking his head,

"What?! You can't just say no." Sparx buzzed crossly, "we've seen the balloon outside and there's nothing wrong with it. We need your help if we're ever going to free the other dragons."

"Forget it!" Marco snapped, turning away and walking to his window, "There's no one can stop Gnasty or his gnorcs. The dragons are trapped, their treasure gone and the dragon eggs stolen. Accept it, Gnasty Gnorc won, there's nothing we can do…"

Spyro looked at his feet in defeat, thinking that the balloonist was right; he opened his mouth to tell him that when what Nestor had said to him came to his mind. With sudden new found determination, Spyro stood up.

"No. you're wrong! Yes I know it seems hopeless, that it seems easier to run and hide, I've felt that as well. But if we all just sit back and do nothing then Gnasty will have won. Our friends, our families will all be slaves to him and his goons. You can sit there and give up if you want or you can help, either way, I'm going to try with or without you."

After Spyro was done, he saw both Sparx and Marco looking at him in a mixture of shock and surprise. He could see why, even he was surprised by his sudden outburst and determination to try and stop Gnasty when before the thought of doing so terrified him and made him wish he could run and hide, but the thought of everyone, his friends and family, trapped forever, stirred something in him.

Marco remained silent for some time before he gave a small sigh as he looked up to the purple dragon with a look of acceptance,

"Alright, I don't know what you can do to make things better, but, if you can prove to make a difference… if you can free more of the dragons trapped here, then I'll help you anyway I can."

"F-free more of the others? By myself?" Spyro's head shot up, his newly gained determination vanishing as quickly as it had appeared. He had hoped that the balloonist would change his mind and help, but he didn't expect this. He looked at Marco, hoping he just misheard, but he soon nodded in acceptance, "O-okay, if that's what convince you to help us. I'll… give it a shot."

Marco gave a small nod and walked over to basket.

"I'll work on getting the balloon ready for when you return. Free the dragons and then we'll head off to the next world."

With that, Spyro nodded and then turned to Sparx,

"Come on Sparx, we better get going."


	3. Ch3: Freeing Dragons

Spyro looked round as he and Sparx returned to the main area of the Artisan homeworld, searching for any sign of gnorcs.

"Hey Spyro." Sparx buzzed, nudging his friend's head to get his attention. Turning to see what Sparx was trying to tell him.

"Over there!" the dragonfly zipped over towards the waterfall, where, sitting in front of the stepping stones was another of the crystal statues that trapped the other dragons. Giving his friend a smile of thanks, Spyro walked over to the statue. Looking closely at the crystal, he realised that there wasn't any real detail to the stature, just a simple stylised shape of a dragon. No way to tell who it was that was trapped in the crystal.

"Then again, it's not like there's a reason not to free everyone trapped." Spyro said to himself as he walked round the crystal statue. With a deep breath, he reached forward and touched the statue. He watched as the crystal shook and shake as the large form of Lindar emerges.

* * *

"Lindar!" Spyro said, relived to see it was the strong tough dragon, he always had an idea on what to do when there was trouble, even if, as Nestor says, it isn't always the smartest idea. "I could really use your help."

Lindar gave a grunt as he stretched his arms and wings to their fullest,

"Ugh… I was starting to get a cramp in there." He said before finally noticing the purple dragon in front of him, "Oh Spyro, it's you. So you managed to stay free."

"Erm yes sir." Spyro mumbled and shuffled his feet as he looked timidly back at the larger dragon.

"Hey, What about me! I was the one that noticed the statue first!" Sparx piped up, but Lindar simply continued to talk,

"Are you planning on going after Gnasty Gnorc? I must say I never expected something like this from you."

"A-actually I…" Spyro began to say, but was cut off as Lindar continued on without listening to him,

"Sparx can help you on your quest." Lindar said, finally acknowledge the dragonfly by Spyro, "Dragonflies have their own magic. He can protect you from harm and help you gather gems from our stolen treasure."

"Whoa! Protect him from harm?" Sparx said, "Nothing against Spyro but you expect me to act as a shield for him against creatures that are twice his size?"

"Pipe down Sparx," Linder snapped irritably at the yellow dragonfly, "Spyro can keep you strong by feeding you lots of butterflies." He finished with a triumphant smile as if he had just told them some big secret, Spyro and Sparx gave each other uncertain glances at what the elder dragon said.

"Err sure Linder." Sparx said, "Thanks for the advice. But we really should get going, see you."

"Indeed, I'm going to go and show those gnorcs not to mess with dragons" Linder said and stomped off, though as he took a few steps he dropped to the ground, weak like Nestor was. The two young would be heroes looked at the collapsed dragon for an awkward moment and then resumed walking.

"Well that leaves us with eight to go." Sparx said as he buzzed up by Spyro's head. "And then that balloonist will help us."

The purple dragon gave a small nod as the moved onward, hoping to see more of the statures which his fellow dragons were trapped in sooner rather than later. As he walked he look round nervously at each and every sound he heard, fearing that more Gnorc creatures were lurking in the shadows, waiting for him. It was probably because of this, he didn't noticed where he was going and walked through a narrow path hidden between the walls and Spyro found himself staring at a dragon head staring down at him.

"Yikes!" Spyro jumped back and skittered back in fright before he realised it was simply a stone statue, "Oh that gave me a scare. I never seen this before. I wonder what it's for?" he then noticed a statue nearby, "Maybe he can tell me."

* * *

Argus stifled a yawn as he blinked his eyes and stood up to his fullest as if waken up from a deep sleep. As his vision cleared he saw a young dragon standing before him.

"Is that… ah Spyro, good to see you're okay." He said as he recognised who was in front of him.

"Hey Argus, erm what's with that's stone dragon?" the purple dragon asked, pointing a timid claw at the said stone structure.

"Ah yes, that. The boss in charge of this world is in the portal inside." Argus said, "However he had sealed it off. Only by reaching the exit portal in one of the other worlds can you confront him."

"Confront him?" Spyro squeaked, trembling, "W-why would I do that?"

"You must face him Spyro and win. For this world will never truly be free unless you defeat Gnasty's minion in charge of it." Argus retorted. Spyro opened his mouth to protest but closed it again as he knew that as much as he didn't want to, he was the only one that was able to do anything about this boss minion.

* * *

"I can't believe you let us get talked into this." Sparx muttered as he and Spyro were later walking back to where they started.

"I-it's not like I had much of a choice." Spyro replied back, "Argus and all the other freed dragons are still weak from being trapped in those statues and the homeworld won't be safe as long as the one leading the Gnorcs here is still around. I don't want to face this guy as much as you. He's probably bigger, meaner and stronger than all the others."

"Hey, you got us into this mess so you can't go wimping out on me on this" Sparx snapped, seeing the purple dragon flinch at his outburst, the dragonfly sighed and continued, "Look. I know you're scared, I am too, but you're right. We're the only ones that can do anything about this guy, so let's do this, I'll be with you every step of the way."

Spyro looked back at Sparx and nodded,

"Y-yeah, thanks Sparx." The purple dragon said, "I mean, we did already freed three dragons, how much harder can't be?"

As they resume their walking to one of the portals, the purple dragon soon spotted something. It was a red chest with gold trimmings and pattern.

"What's this doing here?" he wondered aloud as he approached it.

"Who knows?" Sparx said, somehow managing to give a shrug with his wings. "Maybe we should open it and see?"

Spyro, looked back at the box chest and after a moment to steady his nerves and, seeing no other way to open it, charges and rams the chest. As the fragments of the broken chest scattered across the floor, a blue gem tumbled near the pair's feet.

"It's a gem from the treasure, but what's its doing here?"

"Maybe the Gnorcs took it?" Sparx suggested. Spyro thought about this and recalled what Bon the Interviewer said about Gnasty Gnorc having a spell to turn gems into an army.

"Yeah, I think you're right Sparx." He said, "We can't just leave it here, we gotta take it with us."

"Take it! How? There's got to be loads of gems laying around the place, how are we supposed to carry all that around?"

Before Spyro could reply he head a sound behind him, looking round he saw a Gnorc standing over him. It was bigger than the others he had seen. A large bag of gems slung over one shoulder. His eyes widen wide with fear at the green beast and jumped back. In his fright, a burst of flames shot out of the purple dragon's mouth and hit the gnorc squarely in the chest. The gnorc gave a short yell of pain as he fell backwards and onto the ground with a thump. Suddenly, with a poof the green skinned creature disappeared in a puff of dust and a couple of red gems dropped to the ground. Spyro and Sparx stared at the scene for a moment before Spyro approached the gems.

"I-I think he was made out of gems, like the others were saying, Gnasty is using magic to turn gems into creatures to fight for him. I-I guess they're not that strong. One good hit and they turn back into the gems that they were transformed from."

"Oh yeah, that's just great to hear." Sparx said sarcastically, "So what are we going to do with all of these gems that these guys are going to drop?"

Spyro looked thoughtful for a moment, glancing back from the gem he held in his claws and to Sparx.

"Well… I'm pretty sure the magic of dragons is said to allow them store items about their person without needing to hold it or its size mattering, you know Sparx, what the fairies call hammer space magic." With that said, the purple dragon closed his claws together on the gem and it disappeared, placed in the magical storage space.

"Great, well that's one problem sorted and hmm let's see, oh yeah, three other large problems to go through." Sparx said rolling his eyes as he flew ahead.

* * *

The two walked on when they reached the entrance to the maze.

"I think I saw a portal in the centre of the maze here." Sparx said, "If we're lucky, maybe those dumb gnorcs missed it and it'll be easy to get through it."

"Sounds like a good plan." Spyro nodded in agreement with Sparx's idea, "let's go in and see if it's safer in there." With that said, Spyro stepped through the portal."

* * *

In the realm that he had made his lair, Toasty lurked waiting for news when one of his minions came rushing in.

"Lord Toasty, we have received word that activity has been detected at the entrance to Dark Hollow!"

"What?!" Toasty yelled, standing to his full height, towering over the now cowering minion. "You let the dragon enter one of the portals! I told you to stop him! If he reaches the exit portal of that world, the spell that seals the portal to here will be broken. I want all Gnorcs there on their guard, there are to stop the dragon at all costs!"

* * *

In Dark Hallow, Spyro walked out on to a large opening, the grassy stone platforms in the centre of it illuminated by lanterns. Looking around and he quickly saw another of the statures that his fellow dragons are trapped in. As he took a few steps toward the crystal structure when he heard a voice

"Stop right there dragon!"

Spyro reacted without a thinking, spinning round, he breathed out a burst of flames.

As he opened his eyes, Spyro saw the gnorc was still standing, the metal shield used to protect him glowing red as it cooled down.


End file.
